The present invention relates to electronic slide presentation systems, such as those useable with PowerPoint® presentations, and in particular to such a system including a presenter interface providing improved control of electronic slide presentations.
Speakers presenting information to an audience have historically relied upon visual aids beginning with paper charts and progressing through transparencies for use with an overhead projector and most recently electronic “slides” projected using a digital projector and generated using presentation software such as PowerPoint or the like.
With electronic slides, the speaker normally uses a laptop or the like (“a speaker-device”) running presentation software which allows for both the development of the presentation in a “development mode” and the display of the presentation in a “presentation mode”. In the presentation mode, the display of the speaker-device duplicates the information that will be sent to the digital projector and viewed by the audience, allowing the digital projector to be connected to the speaker-device as an external display duplicating the display of the speaker-device, hi the presentation mode, the speaker can advance slides by using keystroke commands or mouse buttons, or a remote wireless device typically simulating a mouse.
When the speaker-device provides hardware to support separate monitors, the presentation software allows the speaker to view notes associated with each slide that are not visible to the audience. Without this hardware capability, however, these notes are normally not visible in the presentation mode. When the speaker-device is a conventional laptop having wired connections to an external projector or the like, the speaker is necessarily tethered to this laptop if they want the additional functionality of viewing notes. Frequently, at the end or beginning of the presentation, the presentation software will exit into the development mode or will inadvertently display the user's “desktop” which may be distracting and unprofessional. Because the speaker's view of the presentation is limited to the same single slide presented to the audience, the speaker can often lose track of his or her position within the presentation and/or fail to anticipate an upcoming slide. Frequently, at the end or beginning of the presentation, the presentation software will exit into the development mode or will inadvertently display the user's “desktop” which may be distracting and unprofessional. Because the speaker's view of the presentation is limited to the same single slide presented to the audience, the speaker can often lose track of his or her position within the presentation and/or fail to anticipate an upcoming slide.
In order to refer to specific portions of the slide, the speaker may employ a laser pointer. Such a pointing device can often be difficult for the speaker to orient when the speaker must stay in proximity to the speaker-device, the latter often located near the projection screen.